“It’s unbelievable to be in the lead“, said Jones, who is making just his eighth appearance in a major.
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That won’t compare, however, with the pressure that comes with playing in a late group on a weekend at a major.
Day already has two wins this year and plenty of heartache in the majors. He surprised the field with Friday’s 65, which included seven birdies.
Day opened at 9 under and was among the pre-tournament favorites.
The former Arkansas Razotrback from Sweden pumped his right arm after finishing with a birdie putt on the par-4 18th, which has been the toughest at Whistling Straits.
Day’s lead is tenuous considering the man in second place.
Still finding his way back to competitive sharpness following a five-week injury lay-off that left him inactive since the US Open in June, a fit-again McIlroy, 26, shot his best round of the week so far on Saturday as he carded a four-under-par 68 to move to six under for the tournament, six shots off the pace set by 54-hole clubhouse leader Branden Grace. So that was a nice kind of two-shot swing in one shot. He was unfortunate to have a plugged lie on his fourth shot.
That frustration became obvious when he returned a club to his bag with more force than was strictly necessary after his approach to the 14th ran over the green.
But Lingmerth’s prediction that he’d be caught proved true, and Australians Jason Day and Matt Jones were both at nine-under on the course when thunderstorms swept across Whistling Straits on Friday evening, halting play for the day. He is still close enough if good enough. “I’m hitting some quick draws when I’m playing a normal shot”, he said.
“Eight under par in any major championship is great after two days”.
Jones started on the 10th and reeled off birdies at 11, 12 and 13 before adding another at the 18th to cap a back-nine 32, and he picked up a fifth birdie of a flawless day at the second.
He got back on track with an eagle at the par-five second hole, where he chipped in from the front of the green.
Meanwhile… Grace and Finau moves to 11 under and Martin Kaymer matched Day at 10 under. Day stresses those experiences have only made him stronger. “I’ve got some work to do”, he said.
“Just to be able to finish with a birdie on 16 and two pars on 17 and 18 felt fantastic”.
He double bogeyed the par-3 seventh hole after his tee shot landed along the Lake Michigan shoreline. “I said, ‘The end is in sight.’ And 30 seconds later, they blew the horn”.
Although Day has been around for what feels like a long time he is still only 27 years of age and yet has many near misses at the elite level. It didn’t matter, however, as Jones drained the birdie putt.
Woods carded a one-over-par 73 in the second round, but the damage had been done with his three-over 75 in the first and his four-over total of 148 saw him miss the cut by two.
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As well as victories at Augusta National and Chambers Bay and two other PGA Tour titles, Spieth was one shot outside the play-off at the Open and has recorded eight other top-10 finishes in 2015. Jones (-12) made a sloppy bogey.
